My Stepping Stones

I have a fascination with the dark underbelly of life while concurrently standing awestruck by the breathtaking beauty of the natural world. 

I’ve paid my dues. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve endured bruises and broken bones that have ripened into wisdom. 

I’m a lifelong learner. I am not any of my accomplishments although they have helped shape me. I live on the edge of the known and the unknown, constantly expanding that border. 

I like to look back on my life in terms of the stepping stones I’ve chosen that have become my unique life’s path:

1- Childhood in Orange County, CA. Loved to play school with my accommodating friends. I was always the teacher. I still have an enduring friendship with Sara, my first-grade teacher. 

2- College at UCLA. Worked as a student research assistant to Dr. Norman Cousins looking at a connection between optimism and T-Cell counts in AIDS patients. 

3- Worked for national sports and fashion magazines in New York City where I was mentored by a brilliant and benevolent psychiatrist / author / sage, Gerald Epstein. Gerry encouraged me to go back to school to pursue my dream of being a therapist. 

4- Earned a master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology & Social Change at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Wrote my thesis on education and social justice. 

5- Fell in love with teaching and with my students at Juvenile Hall and at Above the Line School for homeless teens in Santa Cruz, CA. Sadie, my first horse, was given to me. Met my husband who volunteered to care for my students. 

6- Became a mom to two sons. Stayed at home to raise them. Rescued animals - collected dogs, cats, and horses.

7- Volunteered as a community organizer of sorts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Collaborated to instigate social justice movements. 

8- Became immersed in the healing potential of frequency therapies. 

9- Unexpected death of my closest friend. Long period of intense mourning. 

10- Studied about consciousness and transformation in training programs developed by:

• Thomas Hūbl - Collective and ancestral trauma

• Jonathan Gustin - Purpose Guiding

• Steven Forrest - Evolutionary Astrology 

• Jalaja Bonheim - Circlework

• Gabor Mate - Compassionate Inquiry trauma therapy 

• Integral Coaching Canada - Depth Coaching

• Dick Schwartz - Internal Family Systems 

• Karen Hawkwood - Archetypal Astrology 

• Francis Weller - Grief work 

• Dan Brule - Breathwork

• Peter Levine - Somatic Experiencing 

• Sunny Strasberg - Psychedelic Therapy

Thank you for reading. I look forward to sensing into the shape of your path.

Juliana